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The Crusading Guide

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?Anti-corruption report ready?, says the Crusading Guide in its lead headline story. The paper says the report on forging a national system, a comprehensive approach towards combating corruption inGhana, is ready and will soon be launched by the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ). The Crusading Guide says the Commissioner of CHRAJ, Mr Francis Emile Short, disclosed this when he was contributing to a debate on corruption on a ?Groove FM? weekly programme ?Hotline?, recently. Mr Short is quoted as saying the report contains a number of recommendations for study and action in the immediate and in the distant future. According to the paper, the report is a direct consequence of the National Integrity Workshop organised last October by the CHRAJ in collaboration with civil society, the government and other key players in the crusade against corruption. Mr Short, the Crusading Guide says, explained that earlier approaches to combating corruption had been very narrow and myopic because they had tended to look at vigorous enforcement ol laws, using draconian laws and strict penalties to serve as deterrent. ?Those approaches never addressed the root causes of corruption. They did not adopt a holistic approach ? bringing in the key players like civil society and other people who should be involved in the fight against corruption?, he is quoted as saying.

Ghana Palaver

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The Palaver in a lead story says the rate of inflation, which measures the cost of living, continued its declining trend since April, last year, due to the implementation of the appropriate fiscal and monetary policies by the government and the Bank of Ghana, as well as generally stable prices of food on the market. Quoting the latest newsletter of the Ghana Statistical Services the Palaver says the rate of inflation which, from of 15.7 per cent in December, last year, declined to 15.3 per cent in January, this year and 15.0 per cent in February, showed a further 1.3 per cent drop in March to end the first quarter of this year with a rate of 13.7 per cent The paper says the targeted end-of-period rate of inflation for this year as announced by the Minister of Finance, Mr Kwame Peprah, in the 1999 budget statement presented to Parliament last February, is a single digit rate of 9.5 per cent- just abut 4 percentage points above the last March figure.

The Ghanaian Chronicle

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The paper reports that Mr Emmanuel Forson, a father who accused Ghana?s only heart surgeon, Dr Frimpong Boateng, of delaying the release of his son?s diagnosis report and estimated cost of a heart operation that led to the boy?s death last year, has threatened to take legal action after rejecting the surgeon?s denial to the Commission of Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ). The Chronicle says in a strongly-worded reply to CHRAJ after he received a copy of Dr Boateng?s denial dated December 29, 1998, Mr Forson stated: ?I am demanding an explanation from Dr Boateng for his refusal to answer my persistent requests to give y son?s diagnosis report and the estimated cost for me to use to raise funds else, I will advise yself legally?. According to the paper, Mr Forson does not want any compensation but if the legal action will make the surgeon admit his guilt, he will then accept compensation.

The Independent

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?Construction of third hydro-electric dam...Ghana courting disaster, large part of Bui Park to be submerged?, says the Independent in a front page screamer. In the accompanying story, the paper says the largest of the only two population of Hippopotamus Amphibious left in Ghana, would soon be wiped off the face of the earth, if the government goes ahead with its plans to build the country?s third hydro-electric dam on the Black Volta River at the Bui Gorge in the Brong Ahafo Region. The paper says the Black Volta which meanders through some of the last shreds of pristine forests that the country can boast of, also flows through the magnificent Bui National Park, a protected area of Guinea Savannah which is home to a stunning collection of many globally-endangered amphibians, butterflies, birds, lions and various primates. According to the Independent, a study conducted in the proposed dam site has shown that when the 400 megawatts Bui Dam is constructed, a greater part of the 1,800-kilometre National park with all its spectacular landscape, treasures and diversity of species, will be submerged under water for ever.

The Guide

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The Guide reports in a front page story that an Accra Circuit Tribunal was thrown into laughter last Thursday, when an elderly man, Oko Odartey, who has been linked with the robbery of gold bullion and said to be the father of one of the suspects, started weeping like a baby. The paper says the weeping was so intense that the judge, Mr Justice Charles Quist, ordered him to go and sit down in order not to disrupt the proceedings. It says Augustus Oko Odartey, was among four suspects, including an ex-serviceman and a police officer who were put before the tribunal for their involvement in the stealing of eight boxes of gold valued at 2.4 billion cedis, belonging to Resolute Amansie Group Mining Resources in the Ashanti Region.

The Guide names the other three suspects as Isaac Frimpong, an ex-serviceman, Patrick Boakye Mprah, an auto mechanic and James Doli, a police officer. The paper says the three who pleaded not guilty to the charge of conspiracy to commit crime and robbery were ordered to be put in prison custody until April 29. Augustus, who was charged with abetment of crime was granted a 10 million-cedi bail with one surety. The Guide quotes the prosecution as telling the court that Doli admitted having sold his share of the ?booty? in Lome, Togo for 3.7 million CFA which was stolen from him at the Benin-Nigeria border while on his way to Gabon, and that made him to return to Ghana

Daily Graphic

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.The Graphic in a front page lead story headlined: ?Land guards on the rampage?, says two days after being granted bail by an Accra Community Tribunal on a charge of threatening to kill a landowner, five land guards from Teshie, near Accra, took the law into their own hands and went on the rampage, assaulted a number of people and destroyed property. They are said to have assaulted the landowner, Mr Doku Sowah, some of his family members and vandalised his bus. The five, Gordon Adjei, Mogya Sowah, Adjei Adjetey, Armaah Amartey and Adjei Issah, who were joined by others allegedly held at gun-point the police who had gone to the scene to control the situation, and threatened to ?repeat the Ablekuma episode? if they dared challenge them. The Graphic says the police had no alternative than to leave the land guards who were fully armed with sophisticated weapons, adding that three were, however, arrested later. The paper quotes police source as saying that Mr Doku Sowah, in the company of a brother went to inspect their land in the Teshie area, when they met the five suspects busily demarcating the land. When Mr Doku Sowah confronted them, they threatened to kill him if he ever stepped on the land again. The landowner later reported the case to the police who went to the area to arrest the five men, the paper quotes the police source as saying.

In another front page story the Graphic reports that there is an increase in reported cases of the sickle cell disease in Ghana. The paper says according to the Ministry of Health, available statistics indicate that there has been an alarming increase in reported cases of the disease. The Ministry is said to have stated that records available at the Centre for Genetic Counselling at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, indicate that in 1997 alone, about 20,000 cases were reported as against 8,000 cases in 1980. The Graphic says in a speech read on his behalf at the launching of the Nurses Christian Fellowship in Accra, yesterday, the Minister of Health, Mr Samuel Nuamah Donkor, expressed disappointment that there is an upward trend in reported cases of sickle cell in spite of the technological advancement in the management and control of the disease.

Ghanaian Times

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The Times reports the Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr John Frank Abu as reiterating the government?s determination to a achieve a growth rate of over 12 per cent per annum for the industrial sector. In a story headlined ?Govt aims at 12% growth in the industrial sector. The paper says the Minister who was speaking to a five-member United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) programming delegation in Accra, yesterday, stated that with the energy crisis over, the Ministry would sustain that rate of 37 per cent in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the medium-term, as envisaged in the ?Vision 2020? objectives, among which aim to make Ghana a middle income country by the year 2020. The UNIDO delegation is in Ghana on a follow-up working visit to a meeting held in Vienna, Austria, last year, between the Minister and the organisation?s Director-General, Mr Carlos Magarinos.

Reporting on the increase in the cases of sickle cell diseases in Ghana, the Times, on its part says the disease, since 1980, increased by 40 per cent. The paper in a front page story, says statistics available at the Centre for Genetic Counselling at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, showed that about 20,000 cases of the disease were reported in 1997 as against 8,000 cases reported in 1980. It says the information was disclosed by Mr Samuel Nuamah Donkor, Minister of Health in a speech read for him yesterday in Accra at the launching of Nurses Christian Fellowship Week?s programme of activities. The Minister is quoted as saying that the alarming upward trend of the sickle cell disease in Ghana had posed a great challenge to service providers and agents of social change and stressed the need for effective control and management of the disease to reduce the suffering of affected persons. Mr Donkor the paper says, pointed out that it is disheartening to note an upward trend in the sickle cell disease, an inherited blood disorder, in spite of technological advancement in the management and increased awareness created about the disease.

The Statesman

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The Statesman in its lead story says the saga of the demolition of the 4-star 65-room Pier Hotel by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA)last week takes a legal twist as the ?shell- shocked? owners of the estimated five million dollars-plus edifice went to court today to seek redress. Under the heading: ?Aftermath of that wicked demolition...Hotel owner seeks court action?, the story says intensive investigations reveal that Alhaji Yusif Ibrahim and his wife, Hajia Rabin Ibrahim, in whose name the Pier Hotel (originally Salaam Lodge) stood, have lined up a crack team of lawyers to state their case which will obviously be a test case for Ghana?s legal system and would be closely monitored by investors, local and foreign. The Statesman says the AMA, led by its Chief Executive, Mr Samuel Addokwei Addo, operating under an extraordinary heavy military protection, on April 12, flattened the huge edifice near the Kotoka International airport and in the process, destroyed 115 air conditioners, 85 television sets, fridges and expensive furnishing. The paper says according to the AMA, the action was to ?restore the land to its original situation for the smooth flow of the storm water to ensure the protection of life and property within the neighbourhood of Plot R2?. The Assembly, the paper says claimed that this is because the hotel had been built on a waterway which carried the danger of floods whenever it rained.

Graphic Sports

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?Satellites day of grief...Hamza, Bay still in dreamland?, says Graphic Sports banner headline. The accompanying story says George Blay the Black Satellites? ace defender, whose penalty miss threw Ghana out of the Nigeria ?99 World Youth Championship, says he is greatly disappointed with himself for that ?terrible? miss in the crucial sot-out with Spain last Sunday night. ?I just don?t know what happened to me. can?t explain it. But that is football. I feel greatly disappointed?, he is reported as saying. The paper says Bay, trusted to keep Ghana ?s hoes alive at a time the Spaniards were leading 8-7 in the marathon penalty shoot-out, was evidently all nerves when he picked himself up from the turf and walked towards the ball for the kick. The Graphic Sports argues that while George Blay ?s phobia for spot-kicks cannot be doubted, skipper Hamza Mohammed certainly had been one of the key converters in coach Dossena?s shoot-out schemes. The paper says the Ghanaian captain like his colleague, George Blay is blaming his team?s failure to advance to the semi-finals of the competition on himself for failing to convert the vital fifth kick which could have won them the day at the time that the Spaniards had missed their fourth kick.